Chapter 18: CH 18

Doomsday’s arrival has led to the standstill of all modern human facilities. 

Without waste production and light pollution, the night sky became bright and clear.

In the blue dome of the heavens above, the stars move as time passes by. Their brilliant rays of light are eternal and unchanging, gazing indifferently at all the joys and sorrows upon the earth. 

Chu Qianxun was wrapped in a blanket, resting against the outer wall of the earthen house. 

Feng Qianqian and herself were bundled up together. 

In her last life, her physique hadn’t been enhanced by the demon seed and she had been wearing particularly thin clothes. At night, it was freezing cold. 

Feng Qianqian took the initiative to sleep in her arms like this, even finding a particularly warm excuse. 

“Since Mom went to heaven, I haven’t slept with a girl ever since.” As she said this, she curled her small, warm body into Chu Qianxun’s ice cold embrace. 

Chu Qianxun gently caressed the sleeping little girl, feeling the same temperature as her previous life. 

She stared at the sky full of stars above her head, remembering the little details of the ten years in her last life. 

She once thought that her past life was full of misery and darkness, without a trace of light. 

Who would’ve known that when she thinks about it carefully now, what left the deepest impression was that subtle warmth. 

It’s like these specks of light adorning the curtain of night; although each one is very small, when put together, they are more memorable than the dark night sky. 

It turned out when she was hungry and cold, collapsed in the mud by the roadside, a doctor had given her bread.

And that time when she was gravely injured, passed out at death’s door on the battlefield, Gao Yan– who had returned to sweep the battlefield –had hauled her from the pile of corpses with a look of disgust. 

And that time she had stolen goods and was nearly killed, but a stranger offered to help… 

Thinking of it now, it wasn’t all bad, Chu Qianxun thought to herself. 

Feng Junlei sat by the fire, occupied with cutting some steamed sweet potatoes into cubes, placing them on a bamboo strip and baking them over the fire, planning to dry these sweet potatoes as rations for the journey.

Gao Yan and Gao Xiaodan were also there, next to the clay pot. The two of them were busy with the remaining pheasant meat, breaking it into shreds and frying it into chicken floss in the pot. 

“Did Chu Qianxun say to fry it like this? Am I doing okay?” 

“It should be right, looks like the meat is sort of loosening, the shape seems kind of right.” 

The two girls’ heads touched together as they stared at the large pot of shredded meat frying in the clay pot. 

Afraid of disturbing Chu Qianxun who had been busy for half the day, they carefully whispered to each other. 

“You and Qianxun go to the same school, you’re both college students, how come she knows everything and you know nothing?” Gao Yan complained.

“What does this have to do with academic qualifications? They don’t teach this in school, why don’t you try?” Gan Xiaodan resentfully handed over the flat piece of wood being used as a spatula. 

“No no no, I can’t, I can’t. I really can’t cook, but Xiaodan, if you fool around and burn the food, we’ll have nothing to eat on the road tomorrow.” 

Chu Qianxun closed her eyes, listening to the murmurs of her companions, feeling inexplicably relaxed. 

The last time she was on this road, she was too weak, almost at the bottom of society, and most of what she saw was the darkest and cruelest side of humanity. 

Now she is much stronger; the people by her side are filled with awe and gratitude for her, and ill-intentioned strangers don’t dare to go too far in front of her. 

Therefore, walking the same road was a little warmer and more pleasant than the terror of the past.

There was a quiet noise from the bushes in the distance, then the shrubbery shook violently. 

Chu Qianxun opened her eyes, stuffing the sleeping Feng Qianqian into Feng Junlei’s arms. Raising her knife, she cautiously examined that place. 

The tip of the knife separated the bushes, and there was a simple mechanism on the grass. One end of a stick was inserted in the dirt, while the other was frozen by a small chunk of ice. Just now, the ice melted, the branch sprung up, and the bushes shook. 

Ice?

Chu Qianxun’s brow furrowed as she examined the remnants of ice on the ground. 

She looked back in the direction of the fire, and sure enough, a scrawny figure quickly dashed from the cover of the bushes. It was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy. Three icicles shot from his body, soaring straight towards the people by the fire. 

Feng Junlei swiftly reacted, blocking the icicle with the blade in his hand and smashing it on the ground. 

Gao Yan dodged the icicle shooting towards her.

Gan Xiaodan reacted a little slower, and the icicle hit her in the arm.

Her arm felt a slight ache, and the icicle shattered to pieces. Besides frightening her, the icicle didn’t cause any real harm.

The boy took advantage of their preoccupation, seizing two roasted sweet potatoes from the ground and running back in the direction he came from.

Gao Yan deftly grabbed him, “Don’t run, little brat, how can the food that this old mother prepared benefit you?”

The boy didn’t hesitate and ferociously bit Gao Yan’s hand. 

Gao Yan released her hand in pain. There were already bloody teeth marks bitten on the back of her hand. 

The boy was already a beginner rank saint, and his movements were especially nimble. As soon as Gao Yan let go, he darted towards the bushes he came from in an instant.

But there is one person faster than him. 

Chu Qianxun twisted his arm in one hand, clutched his neck with the other, and pressed him into the ground. 

“Beat him up, Qianxun, this little thief is a no-good creature!” Gao Yan was furious. 

The boy struggled with all his might, showing a vicious look of rebellion in his eyes. 

The hand that gripped his neck tightened subconsciously. 

In the apocalypse, she generally will not show mercy to a person with abilities who is hostile towards her, regardless of whether they are a child or an old man. 

A young teen like him growing up in the apocalypse needed to be more vigilant. Their worldview was shaped in the cruelest time. They had the power to hurt others, but had no bottom line for right or wrong, and were often more cruel and hateful than adults. 

The boy gasped for breath, face flushed from suffocation. He reached out and squeezed Chu Qianxun’s palm, his expression begging for mercy.

“Qianxun, don’t do this, you’ll choke him to death!”

“Qianxun meizi, don’t, this is still a child.” 

“Qianxun jiejie!”

Chu Qianxun slowly released her hand. She felt that her heart wasn’t as hard as it had been in the past, and there really is no way she can take someone’s life at this time. 

Since she cannot finish him off completely, she doesn’t want to offend this person too deeply. 

This is a newly awakened Tier One ice-type ability. Don’t just look at his harmless icicles now– as long as he is alive, even though he is young, it won’t take long for him to become a powerhouse who no one dares to provoke. 

The boy rolled over and stood up, coughing violently for a while. He slowly retreated, but kept glancing at the squashed sweet potatoes that had fallen to the ground, unwilling to part with them. 

Gao Yan hissed through her teeth as she touched the teeth marks on her hand and spoke irritatedly: “Just take them, little beggar. They can’t be eaten anyway.”

The boy watched them closely, cautiously crouching down, then gathered the flattened sweet potatoes into his hands. He hid in a corner as he ate them in big mouthfuls. He had obviously been hungry for a long time, gulping too quickly and choking several times, but still straightening his neck and swallowing them down with effort.

Feng Junlei took an iron bowl he’d found in the earthen house and filled it with the water used for boiling the potatoes, then brought it before the boy. 

The boy received it, noisily taking several gulps of water, and glanced at Feng Junlei a few times. Gradually, he lost the thorniness he’d had in the beginning. 

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“What’s your name? Where are your parents?” Feng Junlei asked. 

“Xiaojie, Jiang Xiaojie. My dad’s a gambler. When the green moon appeared, he still wouldn’t leave the betting table. Another player turned into a monster and killed him.” The boy spoke, the eyes on his thin face faintly rimmed with red. 

“What about your mother?” Feng Qianqian leaned on her father’s back, showing her small face, “Are you without a mother like me?” 

The red in Jiang Xiaojie’s eyes receded, and only dark green eye bags from lack of sleep were left. He spat out in one breath, “That woman didn’t care about me at all. When the apocalypse started, she panicked and got into her lover’s car. No matter how much I chased her and called for her, she didn’t stop.”

Feng Junlei is a man who takes on both parents’ roles to raise his child. His daughter is more important to him than his own life. He doesn’t understand how there are some parents in the world who don’t care about their children. 

Feng Qianqian reached into her pocket and took out half a piece of leftover chocolate. The little girl held it in her delicate hand, passing it forward: “Gege, this is for you. Qianxun jiejie gave it to me, it’s tasty. Eat it, you won’t miss your mother anymore.” 

Jiang Xiaojie looked back and forth between Feng Junlei and Feng Qianqian’s faces several times. Suddenly, he reached out and snatched the half piece of chocolate, then turned and hid in a nook far away from them. 

Early in the next morning, everyone got up and ate the sweet potatoes boiled last night as breakfast. 

Putting the meat floss and dried sweet potato pieces in the clay pot, Feng Junlei found a tree vine, strung it on the pot, then carried it on his back. Before leaving, he divided the sweet potato pieces, keeping half and giving the rest to Jiang Xiaojie, who was watching them from a distance. 

They returned to the highway from the field, Jiang Xiaojie following them from afar without saying a word. 

“That little thief is following us. We only have this little bit of food, I don’t know how we’ll find more on the road. We can’t give him any more food.” Gao Yan warned the others. 

Feng Qianqian held her father’s hand, looking back again and again, but didn’t say a word. 

Perhaps because she’d lost her mother early on, she seemed more sensible than other children her age, and knew not to cause trouble for the adults in this situation. 

Chu Qianxun found a commercial vehicle parked on the other side of the road. She crouched under the car and messed around for a moment before quickly opening the door. She threw out the driver who had been dead for a while, sat in the driver’s seat, and started the car. 

This vehicle was a seven-seater, so they could sit comfortably and even take turns sleeping in the back if needed. 

The people outside were surprised but delighted, and got into the car one by one. 

“Qianxun, you’re really too capable, is there anything you can’t do?” Gao Yan didn’t forget to flatter Chu Qianxun with a few timely words. 

“That boy is still following behind.” Gan Xiaodan glanced at the rearview mirror and saw Jiang Xiaojie running after the car. 

“What is he doing? Does he want to go with us?”

“No way, if he was going to stick to us, I wouldn’t have shared the sweet potatoes with him.” 

Everyone turned around to look behind the car at the tiny figure stubbornly following every step of the way. 

Naturally, he couldn’t keep up with the car’s pace, and his distance from the vehicle was growing farther and farther away. 

That thin, small figure stumbled and fell on the road, then swiftly got up and continued running. 

Before long he tripped again, but this time he didn’t get up and collapsed in the dust, motionless. 

He had finally given up. 

“Qianxun, let’s take him for a while. He’s just a child, he won’t survive if he’s left on the road like this,” Feng Junlei couldn’t bear it any longer. 

“In this world, there’s too many people who won’t survive,” Chu Qianxun said coldly. 

But her foot pressed on the brakes, and the car reversed. 

The dust kicked up by the wheels hit Jiang Xiaojie’s face. Jiang Xiaojie lifted his face from the smoke and stared at the van in front of him in a daze. 

The driver seat window rolled down, revealing an indifferent face. That woman was cold and powerful, easily able to choke him with one hand. But Jiang Xiaojie truly hoped she would bring him along with her. 

The car door opened, and the man and the little girl inside smiled as they reached out their hands towards him. 

Chu Qianxun looked at the dusty boy in the backseat, not knowing whether to resent this boy or her own overflowing sympathy. 

Forget it, it’s not that bad, Chu Qianxun thought in her heart, just take them all to the base ahead and leave them there. 

The van drove onward for some time, diverged from the highway, and entered a vast industrial park. 

“Qianxun, did you go the wrong way?” Gan Xiaodan flipped through the map on her phone. She didn’t download it beforehand, so she couldn’t open the road for this area. 

“This is a food factory. I’m looking for things to eat.” Chu Qianxun stopped the car and found a reason to explain her behavior. 

She jumped out of the car and led them through a forest to the factory production area. Behind the forest, there was a drop in elevation where a large water reservoir was constructed. The pool was originally covered, but at present it had been damaged by something. The interior had no water and was desolate save for some dried up silt at the bottom of the pool. 

Beyond the pool, across a cement road in the factory area, there was a massive steel warehouse on the opposite side. 

The warehouse entrance was open, but the inside was too dark to see. 

Chu Qianxun silently looked at the warehouse for a moment, then turned and began to collect supplies. 

She found a truck parked in the factory area, took out the gasoline from the fuel tank, and poured it all into the bottom of the reservoir. 

Then a few flexible aluminum composite strips were placed on top of the pool, and a wooden pole that the strips could just barely hold up was put up in the middle of them. 

She took a large sheet of sun-shading tarp from the factory’s exterior and spread it over the strips, and finally scattered some dead leaves on top, arranging a huge pitfall. 

“We don’t know if there are monsters inside, so don’t go in there, Qianxun,” Gan Xiaodan looked at the deathly silent factory building with some trepidation. 

Chu Qianxun didn’t respond. She refastened her shoelaces and checked over her equipment, clearly indicating her resolute attitude. 

She handed both grenades and the lighter to Feng Junlei: “If a monster follows me out and falls into this trap, quickly throw these in.” 

Then she stood up and finally stated a sentence. “If I don’t come out, just leave on your own.” 

“I…” Feng Junlei wanted to say he would go with her, but as a father, he couldn’t leave his daughter by herself. 

“I’ll go with you, jiejie.” Jiang Xiaojie suddenly spoke. 

Since Jiang Xiaojie got into the car, similar to Gao Yan, he has been particularly enthusiastic towards Chu Qianxun. He is always busy rushing about, not at all like the average teenager. 

Chu Qianxun regarded his attitude as a display of the weak seeking the protection from the strong. 

But she hadn’t expected Jiang Xiaojie would want to accompany her on her risky venture at this time. 

Chu Qianxun suddenly realized her prejudiced thinking caused her to excessively judge this person. 

She patted Jiang Xiaojie on the shoulder: “You wait here for me too, I’ll come back as soon as I can.” 

* * *

Chu Qianxun slipped into the warehouse. 

The warehouse interior was a disorderly mess. The ground was littered with waste and smeared with blackened bloodstains all over. 

The deeper she went, the darker and quieter it became. Even the slightest sound made massive echoes here.

Chu Qianxun gripped her handgun and cautiously advanced step by step. 

She heard some faint noises from a distance. 

It seems something is eating, from the crashing noises. 

And it seems there are the faint sounds of someone’s brief moans. 

She arrived at a set of doors that were locked from the outside. A thick chain was wrapped around the handles. A layer of dust had already settled on the chain, and it was clear it had been untouched for quite a few days. 

Chu Qianxun peered through the narrow gap between the doors, vaguely glimpsing the swaying shadows within.

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